Stars Are Brighter in Texas
by girlmeetsjancy
Summary: Maya never thought she could like Texas. Neither did she know she would like all that comes from there.


**Hello, lovely cupcakes!**

 **This is my first attempt at a fanfiction and my first go on a Lucaya story. I ask you for consideration, since English is not my native language. This would be better in Portuguese :)**

 **This sets place in the big moment we're all waiting for in Girl Meets Texas, in the campfire.**

 **Hope you like it and if you do, comment! It'll make my day :)**

 **OBS.: Lucas Friar and Maya Hart do not belong to me. (If they did, they would be married and living in a house made of bricks in Port Lucaya).**

* * *

 **STARS ARE BRIGHTER IN TEXAS**

Maya was one of a kind, he thought. Sure, he already knew that. But never had he thought she could go from dark-soul-Maya to enlightened-angel so quickly. Not that he had never thought about her that way, he only had never seen that side of her.

"Enjoying the view, city girl?"

She slightly jumped in her place, frightened by his sudden comment in the middle of the comforting silence of Pappy Joe's big farm. She did not want to have left New York's hype – hype meaning her nights sat in her window, drawing the city's shapes she could see from her room – to know the city that was Cowboy's, also known as Lucas Friar, or, to her, simply Huckleberry.

Al of that was Riley's idea.

Obviously.

Lucas sat on the big wood log beside Maya, only leaving only about four mere inches between their arms. The young blonde rolled her eyes and turned them back upwards, as she had been doing before he had interrupted her. Lucas rubbed his hands over his jeans, warming up in front of the fire that was ahead of them.

"I _was_ , Cowboy," she mocked, putting her hands between her thighs so she could make the cold go away. It was late at night in the middle of the winter, what else could she expect?

"Well, I'm sorry to ruin the moment, then, Shortstack." He laughed, looking at her. The fire flames enlightened her, creating a contrast of shadows and lights that were worthy of one of Maya Hart's masterpieces. Maybe that was the question: the most beautiful masterpiece from Maya was herself.

"Nah, you already ruin my life by existing," she played with him, looking at his eyes. Lucas pretended to tip his imaginary hat, smiling.

"That's my mission on Earth."

Maya didn't answer. Maybe she hadn't heard. Maybe she didn't want to answer. But he was sure that she was too enchanted by the stars in Texas' sky to even consider responding him.

"Why are you here?" He asked, crossing his arms. "It's late already and everybody went to bed. Fire's almost out. It can be dangerous."

"Since when do you worry about me, Huckleberry?" she questioned, without looking up at him.

"I worry about my friends."

"You make me cry on the inside."

"Maya…" He laughed one more time, not finding a way not to like the girl's ironies. Thirteen seconds passed until she sighed once again and finally answered him. Not that he was counting.

"It's just that this place isn't as bad as you made it sound."

" _Me?_ I always said good things about my hometown, Maya."

"Well, yeah, but looking at your face make it seem like-"

" _Okay_ …" he cut her off, smiling. He knew where this was going. "Got it." He eliminated one inch between their bodies when she shivered with the East breeze.

"Don't get me wrong, Cowboy, but I thought walking with the horses and feeding the calves milk and seeing chickens giving birth wasn't going to be that exciting."

Lucas burst into laughter.

"Did you really say that chickens give birth?"

Maya looked at him reprehensively and that made him laugh even harder.

"I'm sorry I'm not familiar with your language, Tom Sawyer."

"No problems," he winked at her.

"Well, anyway… it wasn't interesting indeed. But this…" she trailed off, letting the words get lost as she stared into the stars, shining above their heads.

"I'm glad to know not everything that comes from me is bad for you," he said, with no trace of irony or sarcasm in his voice.

Maya looked at him with surprise in her face. She didn't say anything for seven seconds.

Again: not that he was counting.

"You don't know me at all."

It was hard to understand all the emotions that invaded her eyes.

"Well, it's not that hard to notice I annoy you."

" _You do_ ," she agreed; the fun and mockery coming back to her voice as she laughed and looked up once again. "But that's the fun part, right? Moreover, I have to bear you for Riley."

"You know you don't have to put up with me anymore, don't you?"

"What do you mean, Hewhaw?" Her voice seemed to contain a mix of fun with incredulity.

"Riley and I aren't-"

"You never were, Ranger Rick," she cut him off, laughing loud as she patted his left shoulder with her tiny hand.

"Yes, but... Riley doesn't like me anymore."

"Wait, wait… _What?_ " She stared at him until he looked back at her. Lucas shrugged.

"She didn't tell you anything?"

"She was doubtful, I mean… I never thought she would be ready to say anything to you or…"

"Yeah, she told me when we were bathing the pigs."

"That's a sentence I never thought I'd hear."

Lucas giggled and she followed along.

"I didn't think she'd have the guts… but I think my Riley is growing mature," she said, looking upwards.

Lucas turned his eyes to the sky, as she did, admiring the beauty of the stars.

"You really adore Riley, don't you?"

He felt her blue eyes over his face, but resisted the will to look back at her.

"I love Riley as a sister I never had. She's the first person that loves me for who I am."

"We all love you for who you are, Maya." He said that with so much conviction that when his eyes met hers, he could swear her cheeks blushed. No, he couldn't have seen correctly. Maya Hart doesn't blush.

Does she?

But then why did she turn her face so fast, as if, suddenly, the horses in the stall in the left were the most amazing creatures in the Earth?

"Yeah, whatever," she brushed it off, cleaning her throat and crossing her arms, hating the fact that she was too conscious about her closeness to Lucas.

"Why do you…" Lucas began doing odd gestures, trying to explain what he wanted to say. Maya looked at him, frowning. "You know…? Keep everyone away from you?"

Maya looked down, seeming extremely hit by what he had said. She rested her elbows upon her legs, leaning her head down and formed a curtain with her hair, so he wouldn't be able to see her.

"That's what I do."

"No, that's not what I meant," he said quickly. "You got it wrong… I meant that you look a little bit reluctant in getting love."

She sighed one more time and let out a languid laugh.

"What a bizarre scene: here am I on the interior of God-knows-where opening my heart to Lucas Friar."

Lucas smiled softly, oddly loving the way she said his name. He knew she knew his name, but hearing her say it aloud was always good. He waited for her answer.

"I'm not used to getting love, Huckleberry," she said; her guards down as she turned to him. Her eyes seemed to carry such a sadness that he had never seen before in anyone else. She was so broken that his willing of seaming her pieces had to be suppressed. "It's hard to believe when people say they care about you."

Her eyes burnt as fire, as if, somehow, they had sucked all the strength from the fire that was almost out in front of them. He had a hard time trying to think correctly when she seems so bewildered and shook her head, looking down once again. Her body was still facing him, though.

"I understand."

"You don't understand," she denied.

"I understand," he repeated. And that was enough for her to explode.

" _No, you don't understand!_ " she answered furiously, surprising him. She looked at him with red eyes, already teary and it broke his heart. " _You don't understand, Lucas, because you've never heard your dad tell you that he loved you and then abandon you after some months to live with another family. You've never gotten any letters from him telling you he missed you and then saw his photos on the internet with other kids. Kids that he loved the way he never loved you. You've never heard him say he was never so happy while he was looking at the stars,"_ her voice cracked, " _and_ _then find a note from him saying he was out of the city and was never coming back._ "

At that point, her voice was already breaking and her tears were rolling down from Maya's angelical face, turning her into a broken and hopeless soul, avid for simple and pure… love. He was wrong. _This_ was the kind of sadness he had never seen in anyone else. He had never seen her cry before. He never wanted to see her cry again.

"You don't understand, Lucas _._ " The way she said his name made him think how hurt she was. She was truly trusting him all of that, calling him by the name she never mentioned with seriousness, as if she was asking for help.

He wanted to help.

"He loves you, Maya."

She laughed with no trace of fun.

"Maya, I'm sorry, I…" He lifted his hand so he could dry her face, but she pushed it away.

"No, stop, _stop!_ For God's sake, I don't want anyone to tell me that they care about me just to leave me again."

 _Again_. How could anyone ever leave Maya? How could anyone ever let this beautiful soul alone?

He didn't know what to say. He wanted to make the pain stop. _God, how he wanted it._ But how?

"Maya." He quickly grabbed her hands into his and made her look at him. Her teary eyes seemed lost and surprised. "My dad abandoned me when I was five. He never said he loved me. If there's anyone in this world just as broken as you, that's me. And I _never_ in my life would say something that wasn't true."

She wanted to trust him. She wanted to believe that that was true, that Huckleberry was just as hurt as she was and for a minute, she believed it. And when she began to come up with answers, his eyes seemed to call on her. She looked into them as if they were the ocean and she was drowning on it. And, to be hones, he had already wrecked in hers a long time ago. It was telling her the truth by just showing its soul.

He was broken.

She was broken.

They were a beautiful mess of sadness and hope, hanging on each other.

"Is it true?" She sounded like a lost child, afraid of anyone that could come close to her.

She was that.

He didn't know if she was referring to what he had told her or to her importance to him.

She didn't as well.

He only nodded and she seemed a little calmer, even though her breath was out of control.

Maya pulled her hands from his and rubbed them over her face. What was going on? He was making her feel confused. Huckleberry could never do that, unless it had something related to his relationship with Riley.

The one that didn't exist anymore.

The one Riley had given up on.

The one that was destined to another person.

The one she didn't care about two minutes ago.

The one that, suddenly, could be her salvation.

She looked at him. He seemed just as confused as she did.

Maya looked to her sides, as if she expected something to happen. _Praying_ that something would happen. _Anything._ It could be Riley looking for her, Farkle escaping to see the horses or even Zay... Well, Zay wasn't a good option. He could make them even more embarrassed.

Therefore, she searcher for the first exit: the stars. Lucas did the same. And, for the first time, all of that made sense. Stars were there, shining magnificently, waiting for someone to admire their beauty. And Maya was there, too, shining uniquely, waiting for someone to just notice her. Waiting for someone to _love_ her.

He wanted it so bad – _so bad_ – that she admired the stars beside him and knew he would never abandon her.

She did.

"Thanks, Huckleberry," she whispered.

"For what?"

She smiled softly, without looking at him; her arm brushing his. She felt his gaze over her face, but didn't look back.

"For making me love everything from Texas."

He smiled and nodded, feeling the hope that was once taken away by his dad relive in his chest. Little did he know Maya felt the same thing relight in her soul.

"Everything is prettier in here," she added. "Stars are brighter. Life's hopeful."

He agreed. Honestly, he would agree to anything that came from those lips, as long as she was safe. As long as she was happy. As long as she felt loved.

And, _God,_ how she looked love-struck with those stars. She looked amazed. She looked as if she had never seen something so beautiful in her whole life.

He too.

But it certainly wasn't the stars.

* * *

Gianne M. Saes.

Follow me on Tumblr at giannemilena! I don't update that much, but I'm a nice friend :)


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